


Nicole, Origins

by Fabulanon



Series: Young Warrior [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Inhumans (Marvel), Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 02:04:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16630775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabulanon/pseuds/Fabulanon
Summary: Nicole is a young girl who gets mixed up in the war between Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.. At first, she doesn't look like much, but she has amazing battle skills, pyrokinetic powers, and more secrets than she could ever share with the unknowing S.H.I.E.L.D.-team...





	1. The girl on fire

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is the first story I've ever written and uploaded here. I never even meant to write this, to be honest... It was just a story that I was carrying around, and one day I just thought I'd write it down. I expected it to be just a couple of pages, but the inspiration kept coming, and I ended up with an entire book...
> 
> Anyway, I just want to know what you guys think. Don't be afraid to give some critical reviews. I want honest opinions and tips. Don't worry, I can take it ;).
> 
> The main character of this story, who goes by the name of Nikki, is a complete original work of fiction. A couple of other characters I also made up myself. However, because I started having more characters than I could keep track off, I decided to limit the S.H.I.E.L.D. characters to the ones in season 1.
> 
> Side note: This isn't my full "book". The full story is also posted separately. However, since it's practically 4 different stories, all morphed into 1, I decided that I could also upload it as separate stories, since, even though they might reference the events that happened in different parts, you can read the separate parts apart from each other. All parts kind of have another genre as well, so maybe it's better this way.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agent Simmons is trapped in a Hydra-base, and gets rescued by an unlikely ally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really follow the events and the timeline of the original series, but I DO start the story at a specific point. It starts in the start season 2, after Simmons has been found out to be a mole in Hydra, and she has to flee. She escapes in a different way, and Bobbi doesn't exist in this story. Sorry. It were just to many characters :( . After this, the story takes a whole different turn.

It was a lovely, sunny day. All throughout the streets, people were happily walking along, and the terraces were full of people chatting and drinking in the beaming sunlight. Not a single person knew of the drama that was taking place, not far away.

Because there she was. Running through the Hydra headquarters, running from the guards that were chasing her. Jemma Simmons, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D had been working undercover, to try and find out what Hydra was planning next, and she had been discovered. She was all alone, unarmed, and had nowhere to run. Surely, this was the end.

She ran through the hallways, when her worst fear was realised, and she had run into a hallway with a locked door at the end. She was cornered, and the two guards were getting closer.

But the first person to come around the corner wasn’t a guard. It was a girl. A teenage girl, of about 15 or 16 years old, Simmons estimated. Her golden-brown hair was falling just below her shoulders, and her face looked young and playful, but beautiful and mature at the same time. Her bright, blue eyes looking cold and menacing. She slowly walked down the hallway towards her, and the soldiers were close behind. The soldiers took out their guns and pointed them at the two women. “Who the hell are you?” They demanded of the girl, but she didn’t flinch. She took out a knife with her left hand, and with her right hand, she forcefully pushed agent Simmons to the wall, knife against her throat. “Don’t worry, I’m with you.” she spoke coolly with her soft, melodious voice. “I’m subject 23 from the inhuman department.” She spoke without breaking her gaze on agent Simmons, staring into her eyes with a cold gaze. “My handler decided that maybe it was time I made myself useful. Don’t worry, you can lower your guns, I have everything under control.” The guards looked hesitant but did not lower their guns. The girl continued. “What did you expect?” Now speaking directly to the woman she was still pushing firmly into the wall. “Did you actually believe that you could spy on us, and get away with it?” At this point, the guards slowly lowered, and started to put away their guns, but the girl wasn’t finished yet, as she moved closer to agent Simmons. Tears started to roll down her face, as the knife was drawing a slight amount of blood. “Please…” She begged. “Don’t do this.” But the girl dismissed her, pushing the knife slightly deeper into her skin to silence her, and continued. “Either you are really brave, or really foolish… But either way, this is funny… Do you know what else is funny?” Her face was now directly in front of agent Simmons’. She was terrified. What could have happened to this poor, young girl that made her so willing to hurt someone? To make her so evil? She had now moved her mouth next to Simmons’ ear, and whispered with her soft voice “I am not actually left-handed.”

This comment struck Simmons as quite odd, and the girl moved her head back, so that they were facing each other again. The dark, evil look in her eyes was gone, and Simmons noticed a slight smirk on her face, as she winked. Simmons took a closer look and noticed that she was holding the knife with her left hand, quite clumsily, and had her right hand free, and on the side of the guards. The girl spoke again, but quietly, and with barely moving her lips. “Don’t... flinch…” Her eyes darted to her right, to where the soldiers were standing, and who had now put away their guns, waiting for the girl to deliver the prisoner to them. But before anyone could realise what happened, the girl had jerked up her right hand, and swung it to the guards, sending a massive fireball to one of the guards, before spinning around, while quickly placing the knife to her other hand, and throwing it into the throat of the other one. Both were now lying on the floor, and it was clear that they were not going to get up again.

Agent Simmons had slid down the wall, onto the floor, where she was now sitting, looking shocked and horrified at the display. The girl walked over to the bodies, and knelt beside them, gently closing their eyes. She then picked up one of the guns, walked back, and handed Simmons the gun. “You okay?” She asked kindly. “Sorry about…that.” She said guiltily while pointing at the blood dripping from Simmons’ neck. The girl ripped of a piece of her sleeve and handed it to her to stop the bleeding. Agent Simmons finally managed to utter “Ehm, well, thank you, I suppose. I’m fine, but what the hell is going on? Who are you? You’re a pyrokinetic?” The girl offered her hand and pulled Simmons back to her feet. “My name is Nicole, but you can call me Nikki. Hydra captured me a few months back, as they were trying to recruit me for my inhuman powers. Whatever you did to anger these people, it distracted them, and I took advantage of the situation to escape my cell. After that, I just thought I’d return the favour.” Simmons was stunned. “Wait, so you don’t know who I am either? You are not working for S.H.I.E.L.D?” Nikki looked back at her, with an eyebrow raised. “That’s the people you’re working for then?” But before she could finish her sentence, the alarm was raised, and her expression changed. “Oh, right. We were being chased by these Hydra people. Forgot about that for a second… Let’s save the chitchat for later and just get the hell out of here, okay? Just stay close.” Simmons grabbed the gun a little tighter and nodded.

They carefully walked through the halls, Nikki carefully looking around corners to make sure the coast was clear. She seemed so calm, and collected, and was completely focused on the task at hand: escaping. At one point, there were some guards that were coming up in the hallway they wanted to enter. Nikki stopped at the corner, her back against the wall, and gently pushed Simmons besides her, also against the wall. She put her right hand in the air, and slowly started to draw circles with it. At first, Simmons thought that she was trying to signal something, but then, a whirlpool of fire appeared before them. Nikki then shortly flicked her hand to the side, pointing to the hallway, and the fire whirl moved down the path, taking down the guards. The fire disappeared, and they entered the hallway. Simmons followed her closely behind, wondering about the strange girl. What caused her to have such amazing battle skills? And how was she still so calm? But at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel some admiration for her, and how she kept gently closing the eyes of her fallen enemies. Her kindness and compassion being her strongest traits.

As they were nearing a big room, she suddenly turned around and whispered “Okay, the exit is just around this corner, but there are guards everywhere, probably to make sure that we can’t get out. I will distract them, then you make a run for it okay?”        
“Wait. Then what about you? You can’t take on all those guards on your own!”  
Nikki’s expression now darkened, as a glimpse of anger now showed in her eyes. Calmly, but firmly she said, “Don’t ever tell me what I can and cannot do.”   
“Well, I’m sorry.” Simmons replied sarcastically. “I just want to know what the plan is.”    
“The plan is to move towards the exit, and then keep going.”  
The anger in Nikki’s eyes faded again, and her expression softened, as she gave out a little sigh.     
“Just trust me okay? Stay here, and when they are all focused on me, make a run for it. Use that gun if you have to, but try not to, it could attract the attention of other guards.”           
And with that she entered to room. She just looked at the guards and shouted, “Hey!”, before immediately taking shelter behind a stack of wooden boxes, as a rain of bullets was fired her way. She held her breath, put up her hands, and walked to the edge of the room, surrendering. The guards surrounded her in half a circle, enclosing her with the wall on the other side. The pathway was now free for agent Simmons, but she hesitated. How was Nikki going to get out of this alive? She decided to sprint to the other side of the room anyway and hid outside. But she did not want to leave without the girl that risked her life to save hers. And thus, she hid, as she looked upon the girl, surrounded by 5 heavily armed guards.

Nikki then started to talk, and Simmons felt her heart drop. What was she planning? Was she really going to just talk her way out of this? “There you go! You got me!” She said smiling triumphantly. “I suppose I shall go back-”       
“SHUT IT! “The only place you will be going is hell!”    
Nikki tilted her head slightly to the side.         
“But why haven’t you just gone and shot me then?”    
Simmons was torn. What was she doing? She was surrounded, and she was just taunting them? She had to go and help, but she had promised to do as she said. The guards however, stayed silent, and this was when Simmons realised what Nikki was trying to do. Say what you will, even the fiercest soldiers would be troubled if they had to murder an unarmed, surrendered child. And Nikki knew this. The guards were confused, and she was playing in on that, changing the expression on her face to look younger, and more innocent. Until after a long silence she played the most stupid, and simple trick that anyone could think of. She slowly pointed to somewhere behind the guards, looking fascinated, and said “Hey look! A distraction!” To Simmons’ greatest surprise, they all bought it. Nikki quickly threw a few punches when the guards had their backs turned, knocking them out, and then ran outside, where Simmons’ looked at her, just speechless. “I can’t believe that that actually worked!” And Nikki gave her a little smile, while slightly raising her shoulders. “I know. It’s so stupid. But that’s exactly why it always works! No one ever expects someone to be so foolish to play a trick like this.” And they ran into the streets, out of sight from the Hydra facility.


	2. The asset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team questions the strange girl, as they find out more about her intentions.

“So. I just saved your life, now please tell me what that life is.” Nikki and Simmons were walking through some busy streets somewhere far away from the Hydra facility. “I’m not sure I can tell you that, actually. That’s classified.” Nikki snorted. “Wow. I just saved your ass, and you can’t even tell me your freaking name.”    
They stopped.       
“Simmons. Agent Jemma Simmons of S.H.I.E.L.D.”       
Nikki took her extended hand. “Well. Nice to meet you Jemma.”  
“What about you then? Where did you learn to thrown knives like that? Or take on 5 guards at once?”                 
“Classified!”          
Simmons laughed. “Oh, so that’s how this is gonna go? You’re a sassy one, aren’t you?”   
“And proud to be one.”      
But then the smile left her face. “In all seriousness though. If you are working for a secret organisation that is fighting Hydra, I want to join! I may not look like much, but I have a third-degree black belt in karate, some talent for knife throwing, and I finished high school with top grades. I could have moved on to my second year in university by now if it wasn’t for all this ‘stuff’ happening. I can be of use, let me help!” She had stopped walking, and was now standing in front of Simmons, blocking her path. “I know that the only reason why you haven’t contacted any of your people to pick you up yet, is because I’m still here. But I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well take me with you.”          
“Oh. Sassy, AND stubborn then.”     
Simmons sighed. She pushed Nikki away and walked on. But Nikki didn’t give up and kept following her. After a while she turned around, frustrated. “Why do you want this so badly anyway? S.H.I.E.L.D. is dangerous. I am a trained agent, and I just almost died, and that had not been the first time by a long shot. Don’t you have parents to go to? It’s a lot safer there, and I’m sure that they will be missing you after you have been gone for months!” Both women fell silent. After a while, Nikki, the girl that had seemed so strong and composed the whole time, suddenly burst into tears, as she shouted back at Simmons. “No, I don’t. Both questions you just asked me, I can answer at the same time. Hydra killed my family. My father, my mother, and my sister. When they took me, they killed everyone, and burned down the house. All because they wanted me in their stupid inhuman army, and I refused to come willingly.” She turned around, hands in her hair, and tears streaming down her face. She stood there for a moment, and Simmons looked on, dumbstruck, as the girl fell to her knees, her face buried in her hands. Simmons knelt beside her. She wanted to take her into a hug, and comfort her, but she held back. After a while she broke the silent tears of the young, orphan girl, and said, “Alright then. But know that it is not up to me. You will have to go through screening, and director Coulson will have to decide if he lets you on the team or not.” And with that said, she took out her phone, and contacted the base.

It was dark, and Nikki could only feel two pairs of hands forcing her into a chair, before the bag was pulled from her head, and she could look around the room. She was sitting in a chair with all kinds of wiring attached to it, and her. The room was dark, with all kinds of machinery that she did not recognise. However, most intimidating were the two men, dressed in dark suits, which were standing before her. After a while, the first one spoke. “Hello. My name is Director Coulson. I apologize for the way you have been brought here, but you must understand that there are certain protocols that ensure everyone’s safety.” Nikki gave a slow nod, but kept silent, so the man continued. “Agent Simmons told us that your name is Nicole, and that you saved her life, back in the Hydra base, is that correct?” Again, Nikki gave but a slow nod. “She also told us you were a bit more talkative.” Coulson said raising his eyebrows slightly and giving a small smile. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt you, we just want to ask you a few questions. After that we will decide if we ARE going to hurt you or not. Do you understand?” Nikki looked towards the door. “Where is the woman I met? Is she here as well?” “She is fine.” Director Coulson said a little firmly. “Let’s keep our focus on the current situation here, because, you are in our secret base, and we have no idea who the hell you are.” Nikki looked down at the ground. Now, the other man spoke. “I’m Agent Koenig. I am going to ask you a couple of questions. You are hooked up to a lie detector, so if you are untruthful, I will know.” Nikki took a deep breath and said “Alright. Sure. I have nothing to hide. Ask away.” The two men looked at each other, and Coulson said, “I will leave you to it then”, before he left the room.

Agent Koenig sat down next to the machinery, that Nikki now recognised as a bunch of screens, giving data of the lie detector. There were a lot of screens, so Nikki understood that this was the real deal. Koenig begun: “Okay, first question. Can you give me your full name?”  
“Nicole Lilith Amanda Dace.”            
“And how old are you?”     
“I will be 16, May second.”                
“And where are you from?”              
“Rotterdam, The Netherlands.”    
“Simmons told me you went to university? Aren’t you a little young for that?”    
“My parents always brought out the best in me. Made me work hard, pushed me to my limits. But then again, it was me, and my IQ of 146 that brought me this far in the end.”               
“And what field did you study?”       
“It was some sort of combination of a lot of things. Society. Design. But mixed with ICT and technology. Are these really all the questions you’re gonna ask me though? Because I might as well give you my resume.” She smirked.        
“Agent Simmons told us you were a smartass. Fine. Personality questions then. You are stranded on a deserted island, and there’s a box. What’s in the box?”             
Nikki thought about this for a moment before she replied.        
“I could give multiple answers to this. The sassy answer would be: ‘An ff-ing rescue team of course.’ If you would take away the island and just give me a box with a present though, I suppose a puppy would do… Or a wolf. A tame wolf then, but I just really like wolves-.”  
“Just give me an answer, please”      
“Fine. The Cornucopia.”      
Koenig fell silent for a moment and said. “Okay, fair point. That one is actually rather clever. Next question then. What is the difference between a rock and an egg?”        
“Smash ‘m against each other, the egg breaks, and the rock gets dirty.”                
“What is your alignment?”                
She fell silent for a moment, as though she didn’t understand the question, but then she answered: “Chaotic good.”    
“Yes?”     
“I consider myself to be a good person, but I won’t deny that I can get a little bit impulsive sometimes. Got me into a bit of trouble a couple of times…”

Questions like this kept coming for a while. Nikki alternatively gave either sassy or smartass answers, though a couple she answered seriously.

“I get your skills in karate, since that’s just a normal sport to practice, but where did you learn to throw knives? That’s an unusual skill that you just happen to have.”  
“Let’s just say that one time, I was at the wrong place, at the wrong time. There was an attack, at night. Some… thugs that were pestering some poor boy. At least, that was wat I thought at first. They were forcefully robbing him of all his stuff. I was… 8...? I was sort-of skilled at karate back then, so, I decided that I could save the poor bloke. And sure, if it weren’t for my karate-skills, I would be dead right now. See, somehow, I seemed to have missed the fact that they all had knives. They were so surprised that a little girl just straight out attacked them, that we managed to escape in the distraction, but that day I realised that karate alone wasn’t going to cut it. So, I took it on myself to learn some more self-defence skills. Every evening, alone in the park, I would just practice on throwing knives. On trees, don’t worry. And then I went to terrigenesis when I was 12. I can take care of myself.”

Until finally they arrived at the last question.

“Agent Simmons told us that Hydra killed your family, and now you want revenge. Is that why you are here?”     
Nikki closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “No… at least… I don’t know… I don’t… think so…” She looked down at the ground. When she looked back up, she looked more determined, but there was compassion and kindness in her eyes. “Revenge is evil. Hatred… is evil. I don’t want to let it consume me. I just want to help, to prevent others from sharing the same fate that I did. In Dutch we have a saying. “Wie goed doet, goed ontmoet.” Who does good, receives good. Sometimes you must make a sacrifice, and you won’t immediately know what you will personally get out of it… But that doesn’t make it any less important to make them… If anything, it only makes it more important. I have skills that allow me to do extraordinary things, but I have no purpose for it. Everything is gone, I’m alone…” A tear rolled down her face, and she flicked her eyes up towards the ceiling to try and prevent more from coming. She failed. “My… ultimate goal is that… I can do my part to make this world have a little less hurt. So… If I may ask a question in return… can S.H.I.E.L.D. help me do that?”          
“Thank you for your answers. That will be all for now. Now the director will decide over your fate.


	3. The kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole reveals the traumatic events that got her to the Hydra-base.

Director Coulson was standing in his office, looking at the big screens, on which the interrogation with Nikki had just been displayed. Now, however, it was just showing Nikki sitting in her chair in that empty room. He, agent Simmons, agent May, agent Fitz, and agent Johnson had just watched the entire thing, and now it was up to them to decide whether the girl would be let into the team, sent away, or executed, since she knew more then was good for her. Agent Koenig then walked into the room. “I’ve asked everything I wanted to ask. The decision is now up to you director.” But Coulson turned to agent Simmons instead. “What is your assessment of the situation, agent Simmons?” She got up and walked towards the screen. “Well, she did save my life. And she risked her own to do so, even though she didn’t even know my name. She is scary though. She held a knife against my throat to trick the guards into putting their guns away, but she was so convincing, I really thought that she was going to kill me. She even drew blood.”                
“Well I say we keep her!” Agent Johnson cut in. “I mean, she’s clearly on our side, she has some badass pyrokinetic powers, knife-skills, knows karate, and honestly, I really like her sassy attitude.”           
“Yeah, she’s a lot like you when we just met, Daisy.” Fitz said.  
“Well I think it’s a bad idea.” May suddenly said. “Phil, think about this. She’s a child, barely 16 years old. Are we really recruiting orphans now? Who cares what skills she has? We face death here every single day, and even I am scared sometimes. What if anything happens to her? Can we really guarantee her safety?”  
“Your objection has been noted, agent May, but I agree with Daisy. Well, sort of, anyway. She could be a valuable asset to the team, and she knows a lot about the inhuman army Hydra is raising. She could be of use.”       
Agent Koenig interrupted. “But can we really trust that this complete stranger will remain loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D? She told me that she has never helped Hydra, but according to the story she gave me, it just seems like she is against Hydra, not per se in favour of S.H.I.E.L.D.”  
Director Coulson thought about this for a while, before he slowly said, “I think we should just keep a careful eye on her. But at this time, with this war against Hydra, maybe we should consider every enemy of Hydra to be an asset. Agent Simmons, you brought her here, which makes her your responsibility. Will you show her around and keep an eye on her?” Simmons stood up. “Yes, sir.” And she walked out of the room.

The door opened, and agent Simmons walked into the room, were Nikki had now left the chair, and was just walking around, inspecting the equipment. She looked up. “Hey. You’re back. Are you alright? Back with your people?” Simmons walked a little further into the room but kept a small distance from the girl. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you for that, but aren’t you worried about yourself right now?” The girl turned her attention back to the equipment. “No.” she said quietly, while not looking at Simmons. “Well, I mean, yeah, I am, I suppose… I want to join you, but I don’t really care about the alternative at this point. There’s nowhere left for me to go anyway, and I don’t want to go into the system. I’m not looking for a new family yet, though some friends would be nice…” She looked up again. “So? What did they say? What’s going to happen to me now?” Simmons smiled at her. “Come on, let me show you around. I think the rest is freeing a room for you.”

After a small tour around the base, director Coulson walked up to them. “Nicole, I would like to see you in my office. Agent Simmons, I believe Fitz was looking for you.” “Understood, sir.” and she walked away. Coulson turned around and walked away, and Nikki followed closely behind. When they were alone in the room, Nikki was the first to speak. “First I want to thank you for letting me in. I promise that I won’t let you down.” But Coulson interrupted her. “Let me make one thing very clear. We don’t know who you are, but since we need all the allies we can get, I have decided to trust you. Do not betray that trust. Am I making myself very clear?” Nikki looked down at the ground. “Crystal.” Coulson continued, this time his voice a little kinder. “I just want to ask you some more questions about your time with Hydra. How did you end up there?” Nikki walked over to the table but didn’t pull out a chair. She sat down on the table, and pulled up her legs, seating herself cross-legged, resting her lower arms on her knees, like she was meditating. “They must have somehow found out about my powers. I didn’t use them all that often, but I suppose that one of them must have seen it sometime. They came to me one day. Told me that I could do extraordinary things with my ‘gift’. Offered me a job. They looked nice enough, but I didn’t trust them. And I didn’t want to abuse my powers like that anyway. So, I refused, went home, and believed that to be the end of it.” She fell silent, and closed her eyes, clearly trying to keep a straight face, but failing. “But it didn’t end there, did it? They came for you again.” Coulson asked. Nikki opened her eyes again but didn’t look up. She did give a small, almost imperceptible nod though. “They were at my house… And this time, they were a lot less friendly…”

_4 months ago…_  
_“Nicole, come down please. There are some people here who’d like to see you.”_  
_Nikki followed the sound of her mothers’ voice downstairs and walked to the front door. Her mother was standing next to the open door. Two men dressed in dark suits were standing outside. As soon as Nikki saw them, she froze. She didn’t recognise them, but she immediately knew why they were there. She quickly took a step back, but one of the man had already grabbed her right wrist._  
_“Mom, get out of here. Run!”_  
_Nikki twisted her right arm around, and grabbed the man’s arm, burning him. He let out a scream and let go of her. Nikki’s mother ran out of the hallway, back into the room, and Nikki tried to follow her, but the other man held her back._  
_“Mom! Call the police! Now!”_  
_The man that was holding her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and picked her up, dragging her away with ease._  
_“No! let go of me!”_  
_Her arms were pinned to her sides, and she couldn’t move them, and her feet were only kicking the air around her. She moved her head down, and sank her teeth into the man’s arm, drawing blood.     He let out a scream, but didn’t let go, and just dragged her back to the van._

_As she was being dragged away, she could just see the other man walking into the house, following her mother inside. She couldn’t see what was happening, but her heart dropped when she heard two gunshots.  
“Nooooo!” She shouted, but then the doors of the van closed, and it started to drive away. From the small widow in the back, she could just see her house, and the Hydra agent leaving it. There was a moment of silence, before there was a huge explosion, and the entire house burst into flames. Nikki desperately held out her hand, to feel the flames, and try to extinguish them from the distance, but she was too far away. There was nothing she could do, and she could feel her heart sink, and power fading, as tears rolled down her eyes. As the car drove off, the last thing she could see were the burning remains of her house, disappearing in the distance.           _

The last few words were barely audible, as she was choking on the tears that were now rolling down her face. She had pulled up her knees, and rolled herself in a tiny ball, hiding her face. All her fierceness and sass were gone. She was just a lonely, heartbroken little girl. It was heart-breaking to watch, but Coulson tried not to show it. After a moment of silence, the girl spoke again, this time stronger, and more determined. “But I got back at them for it.” She said with a small smile, which was halfway between sadness and joy. “I made them believe that I could barely control my powers. So they didn’t actually send me on assignments to kill people.” She gave a small chuckle. “No, I just wasted their time, as they were trying to teach me to control my powers. Trying to train me into a soldier, while I kept burning all their stuff and equipment. Accidentally of course.” She added with a wink. “I believe that at one point, I even burned some important files or something. Whatever it was, they were NOT happy.” She laughed. “I was like a _fire_ in their organisation. They could really use a _firewall_.” She laughed over her own stupid joke. “Yeah, it was hard, and they kept hurting me for everything I burned, but I did my duty for this world, so it was worth it.” Coulson spoke up again. “How can you be so calm about this. Aren’t you scared? Don’t you ever panic?”  
Nikki nodded. “Yeah. Of course I do. But in the end, I just found that panic isn’t going to get me anywhere. If something goes wrong in your life, there are two possible scenarios’. 1: You can do something about it. In that case, stop being such a wimpy little bitch, and just do it. Scenario 2: It’s out of your control, and there’s nothing you can do about it. In that case, why would you worry? You can waste all your time and energy mulling it over, but it will only make things worse for you. Instead, I just accept things the way they are, and try to make the best of it anyway. Yes, sometimes things hurt, but it’ll always be better than feeling nothing. And all the pain in my life, horrible as it is… _it’s still mine_. It’s a part of me, that makes me who I am… A person I love, and I am proud of. So, I embrace it, and from that point, any pain, either physical or metal, is just another thought or feeling. It doesn’t bother me anymore. And that is the power of positive thinking. _That_ … is PMA.”               
Coulson gave her a little smile.         
“You sound like you are ready to fight. If you want to help us take down Hydra, though, you will have to train hard. Agent May will help you with your battle skills, just karate is not going to cut it I’m afraid.” Nikki looked up again. “Can I also help in the lab? Jemm-, I mean, agent Simmons showed it to me, I think I can help there as well…” “That’s up to Fitz-Simmons to decide then. Either way, don’t underestimate how hard this is going to be. Now get some rest. I do have a lot more questions for you, considering Hydra’s inhuman-army, but there’s still plenty of time for that.” Nikki stood up and nodded. “Thank you.” After a moment of silence, she quickly added “Sir!” and held out her hand. Coulson shook it, before having her escorted back to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. This is the first time in my story that I use a flasback like this. Though I personnaly feel like this makes it more interesting than just Nikki talking about what happened, it makes the story a whole lot longer. Tell me what you think: should I use flasbacks like this, or just have her say a short summary in dialog?


	4. Settling in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time passes on, as Nikki gets settled in the base. She gets along well with the team, but does cause a fair amount of mischief...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't really story-driven. However, it does give a nice feel for the passing of time, and gives some further development of the characters involved. And it has some funny/weird/random jokes and quotes in it. I will insert chapters like this every once in a while, and though they might be dull to some, please just roll with it, and don't give up on the story :). The action will return soon, I promise!

Over the next couple of days, it quickly became clear that Nicole was there to stay. Every morning, she was training with Daisy and May, and though she had a lot to learn, even agent May was impressed by how easy she made it look when she stared throwing knives around. “Are you sure that you don’t want me to teach you how to shoot? You can’t just keep relying on knives.”  
Nikki shot her an angry look. “Never tell me what I can or cannot do.”  But May kept insisting. And Nikki kept refusing. “It makes too much noise. I prefer a bit more… finesse. And I can always throw fireballs around, so in a way I have unlimited ammunition.”     
“So you’re just planning on roasting everyone to death?” Daisy asked.  
Nikki gave a little giggle. “Well, if you build a man a fire, he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.” And she giggled, with fire twirling around her fingers.

And May and Daisy were not the only ones who were impressed by the strange young girl. Fitz and Simmons had given her a couple of assignments to see if she was just as clever as she pretended to be. Again, she still had a long way to go, and her intelligence came nowhere close to theirs, but she would sometimes join in conversations with them on subjects that the rest of the team couldn’t understand. And a couple of times, she surprised them. “Done!” She said triumphantly, and she laid a stack of paper on Simmons’ desk. She had been given a small biochemistry test. “Wait, already?” Simmons asked in surprise, as she picked up the test and skimmed through it. Nikki looked confused. “Yeah, why? Was this supposed to take longer?” Simmons looked at her. “Well, maybe I’d have been able to do this slightly faster than you, but I expected this to occupy you for at least three hours. It barely took you two.” Nikki rolled her eyes. “This feels like I’m back in high school... Anyway, can I go now?” Simmons nodded, and started examining Nikki’s work.

In her free time, she would make music on her laptop, and sometimes she played some songs through the speakers of the base to raise morale. Her voice was beautiful, and the music she made sounded really good, even though she didn’t have any instruments apart from her computer.

She fit in well with the team. After a while, she dropped her harsh and sassy attitude, and revealed a kind and sensitive nature. She somehow always seemed to notice when something was up and was always there to help if she needed to. She was quiet at times and would often retreat to her room to get some space, or she would just sit among the people quietly, observing. You could always talk to her if you were feeling down, and if she didn’t have time, she’d make it.

One thing that took some getting used to but was actually kind of sweet once you accepted it, was that she addressed everyone by their first name, rather than ‘agent’ or last names. “Hey, Nick, why do you do that?” Fitz had asked her one time. She looked up at him. “You realise that everyone here calls me Fitz, not Leopold, right? Then why do you keep doing it?” Nikki thought about this for a while. “I don’t know. I suppose it just feels weird to me to be so formal all the time. Yes, in school and such, I would always address teachers by their last name, and yet this just feels different… You’re my friend, and I feel like I should address you as such, instead of using some sort of codename or something…” The next time she saw him, she called him ‘Fitz’ for once, just to try it out. The time after that, it was back to Leo, and that was where it stayed.

Despite this though, she sometimes got quite mischievous, messing around with people, and playing pranks every once in a while. One thing she really liked to do, was sneak into the other’s rooms, and rearrange all the furniture. Not in a way that was harmful. She didn’t make a mess, made sure that no one lost any important stuff, and she didn’t snoop around, invading privacy. It was mostly for the reaction someone would give, if they walked into their room at night, to find everything reorganised.

One other thing she liked to do, was that she sometimes said things in Dutch, leaving everyone to wonder what she had said. Everyone had grown used to it, and it became a sort of game they played. Every time she had said something in Dutch, everyone would scream for a translation. Usually, she would give it, but sometimes, she would shake her head, and say with a mischievous look, “Trust me, that’s not worth translating…”

Moreover, it seemed like she had made it her personal mission to get Fitz and Simmons together.                 
“Hey, Nick, can you move over for a moment?” Simmons asked one time. She and Fitz had just been doing some things in the lab, and now wanted to leave, but Nikki was blocking the door.            
“Yeah, sure!” She said, but she didn’t move. “I’m just waiting for the traffic light.” She added.         
Fitz looked at her, confused as to what she meant.      
“How do you mean? What traffic light?”        
They heard laughing from the hallway, as Daisy approached, who had apparently overheard the conversation.        
“Oh my God, Nick, you can’t do that! You can’t be like that!”    
Nikki looked around at her and started to giggle.         
“Come on, Daisy! Don’t pretend you don’t agree with me!”      
She turned back to Fitz and Simmons. Simmons looked at her, confused as to what the joke was that she was clearly missing.  
“What are you talking about? What’s going on?”        
“Well, you tell me!” Nikki exclaimed, as she kept shifting her gaze from Fitz to Simmons. “For fuck’s sake, just make out already. Your traffic light gives me fucking epilepsy. It’s off, and on, and red, and green… You two are absolutely adorable together, and the cringe of watching you around each other, not doing anything, is just killing me!”              
Her expression showed how frustrated she was, as she let out a deep breath, somewhere halfway between a sigh and a frustrated groan.  
“Wait… you think that…” Fitz begun, stammering. Simmons continued on this. “No, that’s ridiculous! There’s nothing going on between us! We’re just friends!”       
Another silence fell over them, as Nikki continued shift her gaze between the two of them, eying them carefully.               
“Right…” She said, clearly not convinced. “Jemma. I love you. You’re an amazing person, and I have an immense amount of respect for you.”            
“Thank you-”         
“But you are a dreadful liar.”            
She stayed in the doorway, until Daisy finally pulled her out of the way.                
“Hey!” She shouted, as Fitz and Simmons quickly left the lab and walked away.

When they were alone, Daisy let go of her again.         
“Come on, Daisy, I almost had them. Why did you do that?”     
“You’re going about this the wrong way. This isn’t going to work.”  
“Well what do you suggest then?”   
Daisy laughed. “Come on, let’s go!”  
And they left together.

Later that night, Fitz and Simmons were sitting in Simmons’ room together, just looking over some of the projects Nikki had made. “You know, she still has a lot to learn, but she’s really onto something here.” Fitz said, clearly impressed. “She’s a genius.” But suddenly, they heard something on the other side of the door. Fitz carefully moved over to the door and tried to open it, but he failed. “We’re locked in?” He asked confused, as Simmons walked over to him. He slammed his hand into the door. “Hey! Let us out!” But they got no response. At least, not until they suddenly heard a voice from behind them. Daisy had hacked into the laptop that had been standing on the table, but it wasn’t her voice they heard. “Thanks Daisy, I’ll take it from here.” They heard somewhere in the background. Nikki’s voice. The voice came closer. “Told ya I wouldn’t give up!” She said, laughing. She didn’t say anything else, but before they knew it, music played through the speakers.

It took a moment for them to realise what was going on, before Simmons rolled her eyes, and slowly said: “I think we’re going to be stuck here for a while…” She sat back down on the couch, annoyed. Fitz kept standing there for a moment, in silence, before he walked over to her. “Well, in that case, maybe we should make the best of it.” He offered his hand. Simmons looked up at him, before she took his hand and got up, and they danced to the music until nightfall.


	5. Inside Hydra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team finally raids the base from where they met Nikki. Here they meet another unexpected ally.

Two months after she took residence in the base, and trained for hours every day, Nikki finally got to join her first mission. She had told the team everything she knew about the inhuman-army that Hydra was raising, and the base itself. Now it was up to them to take back the base and save the captured inhumans… While she stayed in the base, waiting for their return.

“No, Nicole, that is my final decision!”           
He was just about to leave for the Hydra base when Nikki tried to appeal to him one last time.       
“Come on, Phil, please? I can help! I know I am only fifteen, but I can handle myself, I’m not made of glass! Melinda says that my combat training is going very well. AND I know my way around the base. AND I personally know some of the inhumans, so they might trust me! How are you going to convince them to come with you? Please tell me: #hoedan?”   
“For the last time, Nicole, it’s director Coulson to you, and her name is agent May. And I know that you’re not made of glass, but I don’t want to be responsible for you! You could die on a mission like this! I think you underestimate how dangerous this is going to be!”  
“No I’m not! Don’t you dare tell me what I can or cannot do!” Nikki stepped out in front of him and blocked his path. “Please… Let me help. If you don’t want to be responsible for me, let _me_ be responsible for me. I don’t have anything else to live for, and I just want to make a change in this world. I can’t do that if you’re going to keep me locked up in here forever…”             
A silence fell between them, as Coulson was reconsidering.      
“Please… _director_. Let me be of use. I won’t be in the way, I promise.”  
Another silence.   
“If you want to help, go to your room and stay out of trouble. That’s my final decision.”   
She stormed away angrily, and he could just hear her mumble, “Deja mooo. When you know you’ve experienced this bullshit before…”

As the Zephyr neared the Hydra base a while later, Coulson addressed the team one last time. “Remember the plan. We are here for the inhumans, that’s priority one. Get them to safety. Any Hydra agents you can take out are a nice extra, but the most important thing are the hostages!”         

The most important part of the mission was keeping quiet. If they managed to get in and out of the base quietly, they could make sure that no one got hurt.

Everything went according to plan. For the first part at least. They managed to sneak into the facility through a back door and were on their way to the containment cells where they held the inhumans. Along the way, they managed to take down a couple of Hydra agents with ICER’s so that they wouldn’t be noticed. Agent Simmons and Nikki had both tried their best to describe the base, so they managed to find their way around easily, and knew where they had to expect guards. Everything went very smoothly. The problems arose when they reached the cells.

“Who the hell are you?” One of the inhumans asked when he saw them.             
“Are you going to hurt us?”              
“We haven’t done anything wrong, I promise!”           
Everywhere, the inhumans panicked. Before they knew it, the alarm was raised. They had made too much noise.      
“Everyone, just stay calm, we’re with you. We’re here to get you out of this place, you have to trust us.” Daisy said calmly to try and calm them down. But her voice was drowned out in the chaos. Suddenly, the cells sprung open, and the inhumans stormed out. Some of them fled, others tried to attack the team. And above all that, there was no doubt that the Hydra agents were also approaching.       
“Enough!” A voice yelled through the room.  
Nikki was standing in the doorway. A couple of inhumans looked up at her, recognised her, and fell silent. But then another voice spoke from within the crowd.  
“Nikki?”  
They made eye contact, and Nikki ran over to the girl, taking her into a big hug.  
“Leah!”   
Leah was in complete contrast with Nikki. She looked strong and tough, where Nikki looked sweet and gracious. Her dark hair was braided back, her big brown eyes looked kind, but also determined and strong. She wore mostly black, but not per se in a way that made her look like a rebellious teenager. She was a fighter. A warrior.

But this moment was broken when Coulson spoke up again.    
“Nicole! What are you doing here? I thought I ordered you to stay in the base!”  
“Yeah, and it looks like it’s a good thing that I didn’t. How were you planning to get these people to trust you?”      
Leah looked up at her.        
“You know these people?”                
“Yeah, they’re the ones that got me out of here, and now they’ve come for the rest of you. Help me get everyone to calm down, we need to go. Now!”            
Leah nodded, and moved around the crowd to get people to listen. Nikki climbed up some of the bars so that everyone could see her, before she addressed the group.  
“Everyone, listen up! These are good people, they only want to help! If you don’t trust them, trust me! Everything is going to be all right, but we need to move!”         
Right then, the Hydra agents had reached the room, and moved in with guns raised. They were cornered.                
“Everyone! Get back to your cell, and no one needs to get hurt!” They demanded. It was silent for a moment, until Nikki shouted.           
“Leah, now!”         
A bright light went over the room, blinding the agents, and Nikki took advantage of the moment to take them out with her fire. The way was now free for them to escape. Nikki walked over to Leah, and high-fived her, Leah’s hands still glowing slightly by the light she had just emitted.      
“Just like old times!” She said happily.            
“Ready to kick some Hydra-butt?”   
“You bet I am!”     
“Come on then, we need to pick up the pace, this place will be swarming with guards soon.”          
And they ran out of the room, leaving the S.H.I.E.L.D. team behind to rally up the last inhumans.

When they had caught up with the duo, they were just taking out the last guards. They were a perfect team and knew exactly how to use their powers together. When they had cleared the last room, they ran over to each other, pulling each other into a hug, and then performed some sort of intricate personal gesture. It was like they were two halves of one brain.              
“We picked up that pace, brought it home, fed it some Oreos, told it a little story about how its mother didn’t love it, put it to bed, woke it up in the morning for school, sent it off with a packed lunch! Whoo!”                
Another high-five.               
“Did we just adopt it?” Leah asked, and she burst into laughter.


	6. The inhuman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flasback to chapter one, where Nikki saved Simmons. However, this time there's more insight on what happened before their meeting...

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” Coulson asked when they got back to the Zephyr. Some inhumans had thanked them and left, while other had joined them to go to the base. Leah was one of those people.        
“My name is Leah Pandargin.” She said, and she held out her hand. Nikki cut in. “We met each other during my time in the Hydra base. She was the one who made sure I didn’t give up fighting. We were making plans to escape, but we never got the chance.”             
“You did.” Leah said. But it didn’t sound resentful. She sounded glad.  
“I really wish that I could’ve taken you with me.”         
“Why, what happened?” May asked.              
Nikki took a deep breath.   
“You remember how I escaped? Jemma caused a distraction, and I managed to get out of my cell midst the chaos. Leah did too…”  
She looked at Leah, and the memories came back to her…

_Two months ago…_  
_Nikki and Leah were in the Hydra base. A guard was standing in the doorway of the cellblock, keeping a close eye on them. Their cells were at the end of the block, and directly facing each other. With hushed tones they spoke to each other. “Are you alright?” Leah asked Nikki. She had just returned from training, and the guards had given her a hard time for burning the equipment again. Nikki lifted her shirt slightly, revealing a big bruise from where she’d been beaten. She carefully put her hand on it, and took a deep breath, resisting the pain. “I’m fine. It’s going to take more than that to break me. The fact that they were so angry only proves to me that I did something good. Overall, that makes this a successful day.” She gave Leah a half-hearted smile. But then they heard angry tones coming from the other end of the room, where the guard was standing. Another guard had joined him, and they were having a heated conversation, clearly panicked. And better yet, distracted._  
_Leah and Nikki looked each other in the eye and knew that they were both thinking the same thing. They moved closer to their cell doors, and leaned slightly through the bars, waiting, and listening. It was too far away to hear everything they said, but they could make out the words ‘infiltrated’ ‘woman’ and ‘escaped’. The man that had been guarding them followed the other one out the room, as they continued their conversation even more quietly, but lost all their attention on the prisoners. Leah looked at Nikki and gave a short nod. Nikki put her hands on the lock of her cell, and warmed it up, melting the mechanism inside. She pushed the door open, careful to not make any noise, and moved over to Leah’s cell to let her out as well. Leah manipulated the light in the room, bending it around them, and leaving them practically invisible. By now, the guards looked back into the room, and noticed the two open cell doors. The first one took out his gun and waved it around the room blindly. “Reveal yourself!” But Nikki had already snuck up on him, and placed her hands on his face, roasting him from the inside. He let out a short scream, but before the other guard could react, he met the same fate. Leah stopped bending the light, and they became visible again. She was panting. “Jeez, Nick, I don’t think that I’ll be able to do that again. I’ve never held it for this long before, it’s draining.” Nikki closed the eyes of the fallen guards, before moving over to Leah, and wrapping her into a hug. “You did great. Now let’s get out of here while everyone is still distracted. I can’t see any more guards up ahead.”_

_They snuck through the base, but it wasn’t difficult to stay hidden. Like Nikki had said, all other guards were still distracted, looking for the woman that had infiltrated their base. They nearly reached the exit when suddenly a group of guards ran through the hallway next to them. They didn’t get spotted, as Leah used her powers again to render them invisible, but they could hear them talk. “You’ve got your orders!” The leader told the rest. “If you find her, don’t kill her. The boss has a couple of other things planned for her!” He gave a devilish grin and continued his way through the base._

_When they had left, Leah disactivated their invisibility again. She was panting even harder now, exhausted. “Come on, Nick. Let’s get out of here. We’re free!” But Nikki hesitated, looking down the hallway the guards had just ran into. “We can’t…” she said quietly. “It’s not right…” Leah looked at her, confused. “You want to go back?” Nikki kept switching her gaze from the exit, towards the hallway, clearly hesitating. Conflicted. “We would never have escaped if it wasn’t for the distraction that woman caused. And you heard what the guard said… Who knows what they will do to her when they find her? They could torture her or brainwash her for all we know!” Leah took a deep breath and put her hand on Nikki’s shoulder. “Then we won’t let it. I think we owe that to her, don’t you?” Nikki shot one last look at the door, and nodded, before they ran back into the base._

_Nikki and Leah quietly moved through the base. There were guards everywhere. Escaping had been easy, but now they had moved right into the lions’ den. They had to stay as quiet as possible, and stick to the walls, as guards kept running past them. Luckily, they couldn’t see them, as they were still under the cover of Leah’s powers, but she was growing increasingly more exhausted. She stopped, panting heavily, and whispered to Nikki: “Nikki… I can’t…-” But before she even got a chance to finish her sentence, she lost control over her powers, and they became visible again. Leah slid down against the wall. They were standing in the middle of a crowded room, and there were guards everywhere, that, naturally, had immediately noticed them. The first ones shouted and pointed their guns at them. Nikki managed to distract them and take out a couple of guards with her fire, but there were too many. Panicked, she formed a small wall of fire between them and the guards, protecting them, before she put her arm around Leah and hoisted her up. “Come on! Stay with me, Leah! We need to move!” But Leah refused. “Nick, I can’t… I’m too tired, I’ll only hold you back. Just go without me… You can still escape.” But before Nikki could respond, Leah put her left hand over her eyes, and used her other hand, and her last strength to blind the entire room. The guards dropped their guns and fell to their knees. Nikki quickly took a gun and a knife from the guard that was closest to them and handed Leah the gun. “This won’t be in vain, Leah.” she whispered quietly, and she ran out of the room, hiding the knife under her shirt. She slipped between the blinded guards, and finally ended up in an empty room. Her head was racing, and her heart aching, but there was no time to stand still. Because there, from the doorway, she could just see a woman hastily running through the base, with two guards following closely behind…_

Nikki fell silent.     
“I’m so sorry I left you behind, Leah. What did they do to you after they recaptured you?”              
“It wasn’t pretty, but I could take it. They hurt me, but that only fuelled my hate for them, and now I got back at them for it. I just wanted to make sure that at least one of us got out, and it looks like you did. You even managed to save the woman we went back for. I don’t regret anything, Nikki.”  
She pulled her into another hug.      
“I’m just so glad you’re okay.” Nikki said, almost crying.            
“So, what now?” Leah asked, and Nikki looked up at Coulson.  
“If you want to be part of the team, you will have to go through screening, and you will have to work hard, this is not going to be easy. I think Nicole can tell you all about that.”     
Nikki rolled her eyes and sighed. “That I can… But don’t worry Leah, not everyone is as grumpy as Phil is.” She winked at her.               
“For the last time, it’s director Coulson to you!”          
“Sorry Phil.” She said, and she pulled Leah away to check in on the rest, still giggling.

Leah and Nikki were inseparable. They shared everything and made jokes that no one understood. And naturally, Leah had joined Nikki in her mission to get Fitz and Simmons together.              
“Great, now there’s two of them.” Fitz said mockingly to Simmons once. “I don’t think I’ll be able to handle two sassy teenagers running through the base.”          
Simmons laughed.              
“Come on, Fitz, you know Nikki, and you know there’s more to her than meets the eye, I’m sure the same counts for Leah. Besides, I think it’s really nice for her to have someone her own age around. I mean, I can talk to her just fine, but I’m still about 10 years older than she is, many of the jokes she makes are going way over my head.”  
“That’s fair.”          
There was a silence.            
“Well, now that Nikki’s busy, I thought that maybe we could… talk.” Fitz begun carefully.  
Simmons looked up, curious. “Talk about what?”        
“About… us.”        
Another moment of silence.             
“Oh.”       
“Would you… like to have dinner sometime? Somewhere else? Somewhere… nice?”         
“Yes, I’d like that.”               
More silence.        
“Did Nikki just win?”                          
“Yes, I think she did.”          
“Let’s just not mention this to her, okay?”     
“Agreed…”

But Simmons was proven right about Leah, and it turned out that there was more to her than you could see at first. She had a strong will and powerful personality but was fiercely loyal. Something that was shown especially when someone treated Nikki with less respect that she, according to her, deserved. It seemed like she had assigned herself as Nikki’s personal bodyguard, and did everything she could to protect her, both physically and mentally.     
“Wait, so your ‘boss’ is still refusing to let you on missions, just because you’re young?”  
“Yeah, the only reason I was with the team the day we rescued you, was because I snuck onto the plane. He even admitted that it would probably have been a total disaster if I hadn’t showed up, but he still won’t let me on the team!”              
“Okay, that’s it! I’m going to punch him!”      
Nikki giggled.        
“No! Come on, Leah, we talked about this. No punching people!”  
“But he is keeping you locked up in here! He’s treating you like a child!”               
Nikki looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Leah. I _am_ a child.”  
But Leah just folded her arms.          
“Still doesn’t make it right.”              
Okay, fine! Just a tiny smack across the face then.” Nikki laughed. “But while you’re at it, can you just smack Leopold as well? Because I _know_ he asked Jemma out to dinner, and neither of them have admitted that to me.” She sighed. “What am I gonna do with them?”  
She laid down on the couch, resting her head on Leah’s lap.      
“Anyone else been bothering you?” Leah asked, sarcastically, and jokingly, while stroking her hair.                
“You mean, apart from you?”           
“Ommygosh! Nick!”            
Nikki was just able to get up and jump off the couch before Leah beat her with a pillow. Nikki picked up another one, and before they knew it, they started a full-blown pillow-war. All her thoughts and worries faded away, and or the first time in months, Nikki could finally be a kid again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading part 1 of my story. If you liked it, please continue to part 2. This one will mostly focus on Nikki's life before S.H.I.E.L.D., and contains some interesting reveals about how she became the way she is... This part will contain some heavy themes though, so be warned.
> 
> In the third part, they will go to the Netherlands, to find an 084. They will meet some of Nikki's old friends as well, but not everything is what it seems...
> 
> The fourth, and (so far) final part will have a lot more action, and interesting reveals. This is the biggest part of the story, and the one that I personally am the most proud of. I would be honoured if you read it, and tell me what you think.


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